The statements in this section merely provide background information related to the present disclosure and may not constitute prior art.
Many of today's lightweight vehicles that are not designated for use on roadways, e.g., all-terrain vehicles (ATVs), utility terrain vehicles (UTVs), etc., implement a continuously variable transmission (CVT) to transfer and control the distribution of torque within the vehicle drivetrain. Due to the dust, water, mud, rocks, etc., commonly encountered in off-road environments, such CVTs typically comprise a housing or cover designed to protect the components, e.g., primary clutch, secondary clutch, bushings, belts, etc., from the environment. However, such covers substantially enclose the components and trap heat generated during operation of the CVT such that the components do not easily cool off causing degradation in the life of the components. Additionally, in higher horsepower vehicles, greater heat is generated, which will degrade the internal parts of the CVT faster. Known system designs for cooling the internal components of CVTs have a fan located on the inside, or stationary, sheave of the primary clutch and/or the outside, or stationary, sheave of the secondary clutch. However, such locations limit the size that the fan can be and typically require that the fan be integrally formed in the respective sheave.